What About the Space-Time Continuum?
by bellagill92
Summary: When Jellal gets hit by a spell that leaves him a tad confused about recent events, Crime Sorcière can't help but actually go ahead and make it worse before dumping him on Erza. She had her work cut out for her alright... Two-Shot. Jerza Week 2015 Day 7 - Future.
1. Past

**A/N: Here is my belated submission for the last day of 2015 Jerza Week! This was initially meant to be a one-shot but it became so unbearably large that I decided to split it into two. It's not quite finished - it's at about 90% at this point.**

 **First, let me say that this is one of this kind of things that sounded a whole lot better in my head than they do on paper. It's a bit wacky and different from what I usually do but I figured what the hell. The prompt was 'future' so I figured it fits like a glove.**

 **Well, enjoy the read. Part 2 should be up before the end of the week (although I am starting to work full-time tomorrow...).**

"Before I say anything else, let me assure you that Jellal will be perfectly fine."

Those were the first words Meredy said when Erza opened the door of her house. And obviously, rather than being relieved by them, their effect on Erza was just the opposite.

"Where is he? What happened?"

"The others are bringing him over. I came ahead to warn you."

By 'others', she meant the rest of the Old Crime Sorciére. On occasion, when the mission called for it, their guilds and the council would allow them all to join forces like old times. Such had been the case that time, when a Dark Guild started wreaking havoc down south: Angel and Midnight had come from Sabertooth and Racer and Richard from Lamia, joining forces with their Fairy Tail group, consisting of Jellal, Meredy and Cobra.

"'Bringing him over'?!" Erza questioned in alarm. "You mean he cannot walk himself? Is he unconscious?!"

"Just a tiny bit," Meredy told.

" _What is that supposed to mean?!"_

"It means don't worry about it. It's a non-issue," the pink-haired girl waved it away. "Basically, what you need to know is that he got sort of hit by some creeper's magic…"

"What type of magic?!" But then, she shook her head. "Forget it – I'll see it myself!"

And, immediately, she tried to make it out of the door, moving past Meredy… who latched onto her arm, pulling back.

"Wait! Where are you going? I told you he's fine! And isn't Sieg-chan in the house? Are you planning to leave him alone?"

The mention of her son seemed to work on stopping Erza from her mission of hunting Jellal and the disbanded Oración Seis down. She pursed her lips together, conflicted, and then looked at Meredy, a serious look on her face. "Promise me he's fine."

"I do! I really do! Trust me, we covered all the bases – Cobra got everything he possibly could out of the guy concerning his magic." He might or might not even have resorted to methods that bordered on illegal, but everything was acceptable to ensure the well-being of their leader. "He's not harmed physically beyond a bunch of minor scratches and bruises. He's just a tad… confused."

"Confused? I thought you said he was unconscious," Erza pointed out.

"Well, yeah, sure, but that was after the fact. Just ignore it altogether."

"Ignore it?! How am I supposed to do such a thing?"

Meredy shrugged. "I dunno. Just do! Like I said, it's not important. Anyway, as I was saying, he got hit by some spell. Physically, it does nothing – it's just meant to disorient people for a bunch of hours… basically, leave them so confused that they couldn't possibly fight back. We were around, though, so we covered for Jellal and captured the guy. Cobra searched his thoughts from top to bottom and he said the effects usually last something like seven to eight hours. It happened this morning, so it must have been… six, maybe six-and-a-half hours since then, which means he should be back to normal really soon. In the meantime he's just… well…"

"Yes?" Erza pressed on.

Meredy sighed. "Remember how I said the guy incapacitates people by confusing them?" she asked, getting a nod in return. "Well, he does it in a pretty strange way. Basically, he sends them back."

Erza frowned. "Back to where?"

The pink-haired girl scratched the back of her head. "Not where… when." There was a moment of silence after she said that. "Basically, he thinks he's ten."

Again, silence. For a whole minute.

"He thinks he's _what_?!"

"It's totally temporary!" Meredy shouted defensively. "I swear, if it wasn't, it would be the first time it happened. Doranbolt even looked him over when we handed the crooks to the Rune Knights and he said the memory block was already straining to hold together, so please, _please_ don't kill us!"

… and Erza was back to her silent self. That was, until a new voice sounded.

"Oh, good, there's a bench outside. Just dump him there and be done with it."

It was Angel, having snuck up behind Erza to stand at the bottom of the stairs leading up onto the porch alongside her old guild and Jellal… who was supported on Cobra and Racer's shoulders, head slumped forward in complete unconsciousness.

"Oh, God!" Erza said in alarm, that time unable to stop herself from running all the way to them. As soon as she reached them, she went for Jellal and touched his face, softly shaking him. "Jellal? Jellal, wake up." He didn't respond, dead to the world. "Jellal! Can't you hear me?! Wake up!" And, again, nothing. Her eyes widened and she turned around to glare daggers at Meredy, who was mostly hiding behind Richard's large body. " _I thought you said his unconsciousness was not an issue! So why won't he wake up? Why is he unconscious in the first place?!"_

"Because I made him so." That response did _not_ come from Meredy. It did, instead, come from Midnight, who was casually inspecting the black varnish covering his nails.

Erza inhaled sharply and summoned a sword into her hand, pointing right at the man's face so that it was about an inch from his nose. He didn't seem fazed at all. "Give me a reason not to put this through your face."

Midnight just looked bored. "He was being annoying."

The redhead blinked. "Eh?"

"In his renowned youthfulness, our leader may have been slightly… too enthusiastic for some of our tastes," Richard provided.

"He wouldn't shut up!" Cobra growled, starting to move towards the wooden loveseat so he and Racer could dump Jellal onto it. "And his head was even louder than his voice. It was so goddamn maddening!"

"He tried to give us last names based on the color of our hair," Racer stated, sounding disgusted. Then, he shot Angel and Richard resentful looks. "Those of us who don't have last names, anyway."

"Hey, don't act like we weren't victims too!" Angel (a.k.a. Sorano _Aguria_ ) spat back. "He kept pulling on the feathers of my dress and asking if I was a bird. A _bird!_ If he doesn't change back, I vote that we kick him out of the guild! _"_

"We're not really a guild anymore…" Meredy quietly pointed out. "And we're not kicking him out of anything. He'll be just fine."

"Whatever – if he touches my feathers again, I will break his fingers," Angel said, bitchy as ever. Then, she turned to Erza. "You married the idiot, so he's your problem now. I'm out. Eyeliner!" she called and, apparently, Midnight seemed to turn to face her, said title being one of the many derogatory nicknames she had for him. "Come along. We're getting back to Sabertooth – I'm not leaving Yuki-chan alone with those perverted Dragon Slayers any longer than I have to."

Midnight just shrugged and followed her as she walked away, either resigned to obeying her or eager for the opportunity to take a nap that the train ride provided.

"Hey!" Meredy called after him. "At least wake him up, you ass!"

"Hmm… I think I'll wait to release the spell at least until we reach the station," he announced while retreating with his back turned to them.

"I've got a thing too," Cobra informed them, walking past Erza after his two previous guild mates. "So, yeah… see ya."

"Erik!" Meredy scolded, disapproving of him making a run for it as well.

Erza didn't look much impressed either.

"Erza-san," Richard said. "If you require assistance in handling Jellal-san, I would be happy to stay behind and help."

Racer shrugged. "I guess I won't mind helping around too, as long as the boss doesn't try to rename me again," he mumbled. "If he does, I'm running as fast as I can."

"But you might have to provide us with lodging for the night, Erza-san," Richard warned her. "The last train to Margaret Town should be running shortly. There won't be another until the morning."

Erza was torn… the help could come handy but if Jellal really thought he was ten and mostly acted like his ten-year-old self had before, then that would mean… no social bearings, no filter, innocently wandering hands, invasions of personal space… her cheeks colored. Maybe she'd take her chances by herself. "Thank you, Richard, Sawyer… I'm touched by the offer but there is no need for you to put off going home. So, I think I will be able to handle him myself."

"Are you sure, Erza-san? You also have your little boy to look after."

"Add the boss to that and you'll have two brats rather than one," Racer commented.

"It would not be my first time dealing with a ten-year-old Jellal, so it should not be too much of an issue."

Richard sighed. "Well, if you are sure… "

"I am," Erza stated. "Give my regards to Lamia."

"We will, Erza-san. We'll get in touch as soon as we arrive, to see how Jellal-san is doing," he informed her, already starting to retreat.

Once they were gone, several yards down the road, Erza turned to Meredy. "You don't have to stay either, Meredy. You have been gone all week – you must be looking forward to going back to Fairy Hills and relaxing a bit."

"Hmmm… you won't hear me arguing with that. But hey, at least give me the chance to make the least selfless offer of help ever by suggesting that I take Sieg-chan off your hands for a little while. I make no promises about him being returned before he gets spoiled rotten – Fairy Hills has a few too many eager aunties for that to be possible."

Erza sighed. "I'd be tempted to take you up on that, but it's taken me hours to get him to take a nap today, so it's best not to wake him up until he does it on his own. Teething has kept him very fussy lately… he'd probably just cry and cry as soon as he woke up and I wasn't around." It was too bad – she had no idea how to explain the baby to a version of Jellal who didn't remember anything past age ten. Hopefully – just hopefully – her son would simply sleep peacefully until his dad was back to normal.

"Aw, poor thing…" Meredy said, just a tad disappointed that she wouldn't get to spend time with the baby she saw as her nephew for all intents and purposes after all. Then again, she wasn't sure how well she would be able to handle the baby if he was _that_ fussy… "I guess it _is_ better to let him sleep it out while you can," she mumbled before changing. "Anyway, there's something I'd been meaning to ask you all day: was Jellal _actually_ like that?"

Erza raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"All cheerful and talkative!" Meredy said. "He kept shooting questions in all directions and if there were any walls to climb, he would have climbed them – it was kind of adorable at first, to be honest. So, is that it? Was he really that way before Ultear… well, _you know?_ "

The redhead sighed. "Yes. That is how he used to be like," she confirmed, sadly.

Meredy frowned. "Well damn… I knew he'd been dealt a pretty crappy hand back then but to see the difference…" She paused, shaking her head. "Anyway, I should probably warn you: those questions he asked… a bunch of them were about you and your friends. You know, Milliana, Wally, Shô…"

"…Simon and Grandpa Rob," Erza finished for her, starting to look pained. "What did you…?"

"I said they were away, travelling," Meredy told her. "I didn't specify which ones of them I was referring to. It just seemed… kinder that way. I know he'll probably get mad that I didn't tell him at least about Simon once he remembers, what with his whole 'must live with my sins for the rest of my life' thing, but… he was just _so_ _cheerful_. I'd never seen him that way before! I couldn't just crush him all over again by telling him! If you want him to know, though…"

Erza shook her head. "No. You did the right thing. Jellal is often too hard on himself… you saved me from having to cover it up myself."

Meredy let out a breath of relief. "Good. So… be sure to tell him that after he remembers, okay? Maybe then he'll go easier on me…"

"I will," Erza vowed.

"Well, I guess I'll be going, then," the pink-haired girl said. "If you need anything, I'm just a com-lacrima call away… and if you don't, call anyway when he's back to normal. Just in case."

Erza nodded and, with that, Meredy started turning around… until she paused.

"Oh, take a look at who's starting to wake up!" she said excitedly, pointing at something behind Erza – something that could only be Jellal.

The assumption was confirmed when she turned around and found Jellal indeed stirring on the loveseat.

"Well, I'll let you guys catch up, then! Bye-bye!" she heard Meredy announcing behind her and as she turned around to face her, she saw the girl was already several yards away.

A groan came from the general area around the loveseat and she found herself turning around to look at Jellal again. By then, he was not only stirring but also sleepily rubbing his eyes with his hands.

"Mmm… when did I fall asleep?" he mumbled.

His voice was soft – that was the first thing that Erza noticed. Much softer than usual – not like a child's, as he had obviously grown up and his voice had naturally deepened in his teenage years, but he was certainly not using his usual tone of voice. It served to indicate that something was, indeed, off with him – in that case, memory.

After he was done rubbing his eyes, he blinked sleepily and looked around. "Hey, where did those guys g…?" He ceased speaking when his eyes finally focused and landed on Erza. His mouth gaped open like a fish as his eyes were filled with recognition. "Y… you… you're… are you…?" he paused for a moment and when he spoke again, he managed not to stutter. "You're Erza. Grownup Erza."

She could not get used to hearing him speaking so softly, yet looking just the same as he's had three days ago when he'd left in his mission. "Yes," she managed to reply, almost in a whisper.

His eyes were wide like saucers. "Wow…" he mumbled, still staring at her. "You're so…" And he paused again.

…Old? Erza tried to guess what he was about to say. She recalled being a child and thinking everyone over age twenty must be ancient. It was no wonder he would think the sa…

"You're so _pretty_!"

 _Eh?_ she thought in disbelief, eyeing him like he had grown a second head. Had he just called her pretty? She felt her cheeks starting to redden like a tomato. She should have seen it coming – it was basically the old Jellal, blunt and oblivious as ever. And it just made no sense that the compliment would affect her this much – they were married, after all. He called her things like 'pretty' and variations of said adjective all the time. So, why in the world would she feel embarrassed by that? In a way, it felt like she was interacting with somebody else entirely even if she knew she was not.

Before she could register him moving, she found Jellal right by her. _Right_ by. And again, she beat her perception of movement when she suddenly felt him touching the long strands of hair, a purely delighted look on his face.

"Your hair is so much longer…and thicker! It's even nicer like this!" he commented, completely oblivious to the fact that he was standing a tad too close to her.

Her face was burning, finding that he somehow had the same effect on her as he used to have all those years before. And somehow, that made him _giggle._

"It's so funny. You still get really red all of a sudden when I touch your hair."

The poor, clueless boy… It tugged at her heartstrings to see him like that again: so innocent, so naïve about certain things, so utterly joyful. Before she could help it, she found herself leaning forward and wrapping her arms around him in a hug. "I missed you," she whispered without thinking.

He blinked, his chin resting just above her right shoulder and his cheek pressed against her hair. "What? Why? Aren't I around anymore?"

She sighed. "You are… but it's different. Not bad different. Just… different."

"Oh," he mumbled. "Should I… apologize?"

Her lips curled a little. "No. People change as they get older. It's only natural. I l-like older you as well."

"You seem the same to me," he remarked, lowering his chin to her shoulder.

He had no idea… none at all, she thought, taking a breath. "I am not. I've changed too."

"You're still Erza enough – I can still see plenty of the Erza I know in you. Just in a bigger package."

Erza felt herself blushing a little at the word 'bigger'. _Stop being silly,_ she told herself. Certainly he only meant her height rather than… other bigger things. She had grown quite an amount ever since she was…

"Hey, how come your chest is so squishy now?"

She let out a pained shriek and jumped back unexpectedly, staring at him with wide eyes. He on the other hand, had his eyes on her breasts, as if trying to confront that sight with his memories of little Erza.

"L-let's just… go in," she mumbled, turning on her heel and walking in into the house through the door she had left open. Hopefully – just hopefully, he would drop that line of questioning.

Thankfully, it worked. Once he was in, his eyes widened and looked everywhere as if in wonder. "Wow, this place is so nice! Do you live here alone?"

"No," Erza replied after a moment of hesitation. _I live with you and our baby,_ she thought. But she couldn't say it, could she? It was just too awkward… and he was supposed to remember it on his own soon enough, so it might not even need to come up, as long as Sieg just slept through it, so… yeah, it was best to leave it at that.

"Good – this place is too big for just one person," he said.

The house wasn't even that large, really – it was only a couple of rooms upstairs and another one downstairs, which was about half of what, for instance, Mira's house. Of course, only recalling having lived in a cell shared with six other people for several years, anything with more than one room would look big in Jellal's eyes.

"What's that?" Jellal asked, pointing at a random item in the room.

It was the first of many. For the next ten minutes, Jellal just used up his time by finding random things (the sort that he probably hadn't had around in his childhood such as movie lacrimas and Erza's trident-coat-hanger) whose purpose he could ask about. The one that fascinated him the most had been the lacrima-vision, which he regarded with amazement, his face inches away from the screen to assure himself that the people in it were not trapped in the crystal like Erza had assured him.

"Wow… the future is full of great things… too bad I have to get back," he mumbled, downcast.

Erza frowned. "Eh? The future? And go back where?"

"You know… the past. 'Cause I travelled in time to the future."

The redhead blinked for a moment. "You did _what?!_ Who told you such a thing?"

"That guy with the scar on his eye… I think his name was Snake or something. He said I traveled to the future and if didn't quit asking questions, I'd learn too much and destroy the space-time continuum. The bird girl called him a genius when he said it, so I guess he knows about that kind of thing."

She covered her own face with her hands, seeing through the ploy clearly meant to just get Jellal to shut up… which, apparently, had not really worked, even though his ten-year-old mind was innocent enough to believe what he had been told. Honestly, the lengths those idiots would go just not to have to deal with child-who-wasn't-quite-a-child's questions. She was going to have to have a word with Crime Sorcière about their methods… especially Cobra, who appeared to have been the main culprit.

"Hey, Erza, you don't think I have ruined too much of that time-continuum thingy already, do you? 'Cause I'm trying not to ask too much, but I just can't help it! It's not going to end the world, is it?"

Erza groaned. She had her work cut out for her alright.

 **To be continued...**


	2. Present

**A/N: Just when you think you're done, inspiration hits and has you writing 4k plus extra words in something you had thought you'd already finished. Seriously, I have a problem. With that said, this two-shot has become a three-shot + an epilogue. (And my sleeping hours are suffering soooo much).**

 **Anyway, part 3 is already finished and only in need of editing, so I'll be posting it in the middle of the week... the epilogue still needs a few scenes, though.**

 **In any case, I hope you like this!**

"So, I'm not really in the future by temporarily stealing my future self's body," Jellal summed up.

"No."

"I am actually in the present but don't remember the past… or the past between now and the one I thought I came from."

"Yes."

"And the reason why I don't remember is because I got hit by some weird magic that will be gone soon."

"Exactly."

There was a small paused

"Are you _sure_?" he questioned, sounding a bit unconvinced. "Because the future thing sounded way less complicated. Plus, if I'm not really from the past, then why did the guy lie and say I was? That's just mean."

"Yes, it is," Erza confirmed. "But don't worry – I will be having words with him concerning that very soon. Just rest assured that you have not travelled in time in any way, shape or form."

Jellal seemed to finally buy it once she said that. "So then, if I am not in the future that means…" he paused, looking around in wonder "…this is my actual present."

"It is."

"So… I really got out of that place?" he asked, referring to the tower. Being actually free seemed too good to be true. "I don't have to go back?"

"Never," she said, and it sounded more like a promise than a mere statement.

" _Really?!_ " There was so much relief and excitement in his voice that Erza could barely stand it.

"None of us are prisoners anymore," she assured him. "We are free and you and I are mages of Fairy Tail."

His eyes widened. "Fairy Tail… that's the guild Grandpa Rob used to talk about – the one he got that mark on his back from," he recalled.

The redhead reached for his arm and got a hold of his hand, pulling up sleeve up and exposing the guild mark on his forearm. "You have that mark now too," she told him. And then, she pulled her own short sleeve up, revealing her own guild mark. "And so do I."

He awed. "That is so cool…" he whispered. "And I'm not really ten, then. I'm a grownup now. An actual grown up… speaking of which, how old am I?"

"Thirty," Erza easily responded.

Jellal seemed utterly horrified. "What?! That's ancient! Are you thirty too?"

She sighed. "No, I am twenty-three."

That, expectedly, had him frowning in confusion. "Eh?! But you can't be! You're not seven years younger than I am. That would make you… three now… in my memories, I mean. You're not three! You're my age… or at least older than Millia."

"You are not wrong, Jellal. It's… it's a long story."

"Time travel?" he suggested.

Erza sighed. "There is no such thing… or at least no such thing in as simple terms as you seem to believe. It was a matter of… well, physical stasis, I suppose. To put it simply, I guess you could see it as me having been frozen for seven years. Chronologically, I am thirty too. Physically, I am only twenty-three."

"That's… weird," he mumbled, before his face fell a little. "But hey, if you say I'm still thirty like I should be, doesn't that mean that I wasn't frozen like you?"

"Yes."

He gaped. "So, I spent seven years without you while you were frozen?! That sucks!"

She couldn't help but feel touched by the fact that that was his first concern. "If it is any consolation, you were very busy destroying dark guilds who hurt people at the time."

"Yeah, but I must have still missed you a lot," he mumbled sadly, sighing. "How did it happen?"

"It's a long story," Erza replied, not wanting to talk about. "I wasn't the only one who was frozen – several members of the guild were too. Believe it or not, being frozen was not the bad part of the story – it protected us from grave danger. It was the guild's will to survive that made it happen."

Jellal looked solemn as he heard it. "Tell me more about Fairy Tail."

The redhead smiled. "It's a wonderful place full of wonderful people," she responded. "Fairy Tail loves taking in strays and once they are in, they are part of the family. Ourselves included."

"It sounds like a cool place to be in," he said, a little smile on his face.

"It is," she confirmed. Then she walked over to the coffee table and reached under it for one of the several photo albums in there. "I think a few have a photos of us all in here," she said, searching for the most recent album. Once she got a hold of it, she sat down on the sofa and started searching through the pages until she found the photo that the guild had taken as a group in the previous year's Cherry Blossom viewing party. "There," she said, handing it to him. In the meantime, he had taken the seat by her side and looked excited as he accepted the album.

"Wow, there's lot of people," he commented. "Ah, and here we are," he added, spotting them in the picture, side-by-side. Then, he pointed at Cobra and Meredy. "I remember these two from this morning but where are the others? I mean, the bird lady, the one with the nose, the other one with the black nails and Richard?"

Erza blinked, wondering for a moment why he said Richard's name but not everybody else's. "They are members of other guilds rather than Fairy Tail," Erza told him. "You are still an inter-guild team, though, and work on jobs together sometimes. But while in Fairy Tail, you work mostly with just Cobra and Meredy. They are your team. And this is mine," she added, pointing at the rest of Team Natsu, which stood near her on the picture. "The one with the pink hair is Natsu, the blonde girl is Lucy and the boy with black hair is Gray. The blue cat is Happy."

Jellal looked disappointed. "How come we're not on the same team?"

She sighed. Because Team Natsu had been a team long before he had joined the guild… of course, pointing that out would bring a whole other lot of questions that she probably would want to refrain from answering. So, she just shrugged. "It is not important that we are – we take jobs together often, in any case. Sometimes out teams even join forces together. It's only a matter of logistics." Then, before he could question her about that, she started pointing at other people. "This is Master Makarov – he's the one who rules the guild and he used to be a teammate of Grandpa Rob's." Her finger moved to rest on Laxus's image. "This is his grandson, Laxus, and the girl with long white hair by his side is Mira – she used to be my rival but now we are good friends… competitive friends at least. Here are Levy, Gajeel and Lily… This is Laxus' team, the Raijinshuu and the girl with dark brown hair and holding a bottle is Cana," she went on saying as her finger moved over the photo. She said a few more names and identified a few more people before she went back nearer her team, finding the guild's very own Sky Dragon Slayer. "She's practically a member of our team too. She's particularly fond of you and the other first-generation Dragon Slayers – that's Natsu and Gajeel, by the way. All three of you treat her like you would a little sister. Laxus and Cobra do too sometimes – they are also Dragon Slayers, though of a different nature…"

"So she'd like a little sister to me…" he mumbled, frowning a little. It was not that he disliked the idea of seeing that girl as family but something about it was bothering him. Something related to the fact that, as far as he was concerned, he already had a little sister… and she was nowhere to be seen. "What happened to Millia?" he asked. "How come she is not in this picture? Or any of our other friends?"

The question tensed her immediately. She instantly regretted having inadvertently brought the conversation there because what he had asked… it was not easy to answer. True as it may be that once upon a time Jellal and Millianna had been as close as blood siblings, now their relationship was testy at best these days – she wasn't set on killing him or even hating him anymore, but as much as part of her was tempted to open herself to re-forging the bond she had once shared with Jellal, her loyalties to Kagura and even Simon were keeping her from doing so. And when it came to the rest of their friends… she didn't even want to go there. It was just too terrible. "Didn't Meredy tell you…?"

"That they were travelling, yeah. But I thought they'd be part of the guild too."

Erza shook her head and responded, mindful about choosing her words wisely as to not enter sticky ground. "Millianna is the only one who is in a guild out of all of them. But it's not Fairy Tail – it's an all-girl guild down south called Mermaid Heel. It's a nice guild too."

He nodded but seemed a bit disappointed. "That tall guy, Richard, told me he was Wally's brother," Jellal told her. "I didn't even know Wally _had_ a brother… which reminds me: did Simon ever find his sister?" he asked. "He was always talking about how he would go looking for her as soon as we managed to escape… So, did he?"

The question was like a dagger through her heart. It was getting harder and harder to avoid the matter of Simon's death. But she couldn't lie to Jellal – for the life of her, she just couldn't… so, she simply avoided the truth. Which made her feel almost as bad. "She is a member of Millianna's guild."

He sighed. "Oh, so Millia is keeping her company because it's a guild that's only for girls," he concluded, relieved. "Well, I'm glad. It would be sad if Simon was still searching after all this time…"

Her lips pursed together and she closed the photo album, returning it to its place. Then, she got up without a warning, changing the subject in an equally unexpected manner. "I should give you a change of clothes – yours are all scuffed up from this morning's incident. Come along," she said, walking away.

"O-okay," he said, following her.

She led them straight to a door that took them to the stairs leading down to the basement and turned the lights on the way down. It was when they reached the bottom that she heard Jellal wowing as he stared at the largest section of the basement, which served as her armor display area.

"There's so much stuff… are those real swords?" he asked in amazement.

"Yes – these are the leftovers of my weapon and battle-wear collection," she informed him, turning around to face him again. She couldn't help but be relieved that he seemed to have found another topic of conversation that was so different from the previous one.

"You actually _use_ these to fight people?!" he questioned, looking at her in disbelief. She nodded. "For real?!"

"Yes, Jellal," she replied. "For real." She wondered if learning that all of a sudden was freaking him out because he was being faced with the warrior side of her when in his memories, she was a shy, scared little girl who had no idea how to fight. But then…

"I _knew it!_ I told you that you weren't weak! But you never believed me, remember? Now you're a big time fighter who could probably defeat all those jerks at the tower without breaking a sweat!" he declared victoriously. "It's too bad I'm not really going back into the past 'cause I really wish I could tell little you about all of this."

She just smiled, having absolutely no idea how she was supposed to respond to that – his unwavering faith from so early on was incredibly touching.

"But wait, why do you say these are the leftovers? Don't tell me there is more! There's no way it would fit here!"

"I don't keep my main set in this place," Erza told him. With that, she made a point of summoning one of the most modest armors in her collection and a sword to match from her requip space. "I keep them on my person at all times."

His eyes looked like they were about to jump out of his head with all the excitement. "You… you can use magic!"

"I can. Fairy Tail is a Wizard's Guild, after all," she reminded him.

"But… but then… I'm in Fairy Tail too! Does that mean I also…?"

"Of course," she confirmed. "You can also use magic, Jellal. You are one of the most talented mages in our guild." He had been one of the Ten Wizard Saints at one time – that was, however, an achievement that he had utterly rejected, thinking it tainted by the way he had used such a title.

His awe was immense. He looked like Christmas has just come early. "Is my magic as great as yours?"

"Greater, I think," Erza stated, returning the armor and the sword to her requip space. "It deals with celestial bodies and constellations… it's one of the most beautiful types of magic I have ever seen."

At that point, he was so excited that he might just faint. "This is _so_ cool! Can I try it?"

"Hmm… maybe not in the house," she mumbled. "With your memory affected the way it is, I'm not sure you would be able to control it."

He made a sound of disappointment but quickly came to realize that he didn't even know how to begin summoning any magic. He'd probably just look stupid trying to do it at that point… and he really didn't want to look stupid in front of Erza.

"Come on. Let's get you some clothes," Erza said, gesturing to the corner of the basement by a small bathroom where they kept their laundry station. He followed her there and waited as she grabbed him a change of clothes from the pile of folded clean laundry resting atop the machine. "There you go," she said handing the clothes over to him. "There's a bathroom through that door for you to take a shower. You look like you could use one, so just take your time. I will be upstairs."

"Okay!"

Five minutes later, Jellal stood under the showerhead unsuccessfully trying to remember the last time he had had a shower like that. It probably hadn't been that long ago as his memory was defective, but as far as his recollections went, it must have been years – at the tower, they'd just be taken to the sea in order to clean up every time they started to look absolutely filthy. He mostly hated it because afterwards the salt would cling to his skin, disabling him from ever being able to feel actually clean. That shower, though… it was _so_ good. He couldn't believe he actually got to have those _every day._

In fact, he couldn't believe how great a life he had now from what he had seen so far. He could use magic, he helped people for a living, he had loads of friends, Erza was still around and she super strong and pretty now… everything was great, just great!

It wasn't until he was done showering and started getting dressed that he found the first fault in that life: the clothes. How come Erza had guy's clothes in her house? Sure, she had said she didn't live alone but did that mean one of her housemates was a guy? No. He didn't like that – not one bit. Erza shouldn't live with a guy! Erza was h…

His face colored as he left that thought unfinished. He couldn't be possessive like that – they were friends. Best friends. But that didn't mean he owned her. Still, the thought of another guy living with Erza made him sick of his stomach. There was no denying it, though – where would she have gotten the clothes from if there wasn't a guy living in the house?

As he made his way back up to the first floor, he pondered if he should ask Erza about it – _the guy_ , he thought with disapproval.

But for that to happen, however, he would have to find her first… and she was nowhere to be seen. He searched the whole first floor for her and found nothing at the kitchen, living room or spare bedroom. At the end, he found himself standing at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the second floor, wondering if he should go up there without being invited.

It was as he did so that he suddenly had a sense of deja-vu, as if he had been in that situation before… had climbed those stairs. Were his memories coming back? Well, clearly they were friends, so he had probably been to the house before, upstairs included. Surely Erza wouldn't mind it if he went up.

He went step by step, the sense of deja-vu increasing the higher he got. Yes, he had definitely been up there before – there was no way he hadn't. Once he finally reached the second floor, he found three doors, two closed and one ajar… and from the ajar one, he heard some sort of whimpering sound that had him heading towards it.

"Erza?" he called softly, pushing the door further open.

But it wasn't Erza.

He looked into the room and found no sign of his beloved redhead. In fact, it didn't even look like a regular room or a study. Rather than a regular bed or a desk, it looked like the main piece of furniture in the room was a cage… or a cage-like bed thingy with something hanging from the ceiling over it. It seemed like some sort of chandelier but there were no lights… instead, there were little things hanging from it: models of planets and stars, he came to recognize.

It was only when he got closer that he realized that there was something – or rather someone – in it. And so, as approached the cage thingy even further, Jellal found himself looking at a tiny person with red hair – the exact same shade as Erza's, he noted – looking up at him with watery hazel eyes.

Unable to quite process the situation in his mind, Jellal just blinked. "Why is there a baby in Erza's house?" he mumbled.

 **To be Continued...**


	3. Future

**A/N: And so here is the final chapter of this fic. After this, there is only a shorter epilogue that I count on posting sometime this weekend or in the beginning of next week, as I haven't yet had the time to finish this. I hope you liked it overall. I tried to make the most of this weird prompt of mine...**

 **Also, you might want to read 'Memories from Before' before getting to this or you won't understand some things...**

 **With that said, go ahead and read!**

The little boy (Jellal wasn't sure how but he just knew, somehow, that it was a boy rather than a girl, blue-themed room notwithstanding) looked at him with a pout.

Jellal looked back. No word was said for about a whole minute… that is, until Jellal saw the baby's lower lip trembling and knew instinctively that was the foreshadowing of something _bad._ And no matter what, he just couldn't stand idly by as it happened.

"H-hi," he said awkwardly, not sure about what to say or do about a child so young.

The presumably little boy just blinked at him, not responding. Jellal wasn't sure how but he just knew that the baby was too little to know how to talk. In fact, if he asked himself how old he was, the answer would come as 'seven months' – he had no idea how he knew all that stuff. He wondered if it was the memories returning – clearly, it wasn't the first time he saw that baby.

The boy made some sort of sound and then lifted his arms up above his head, looking at him pointedly.

"Do… do you need something?" he asked the baby.

The infant just kept on looking at him, his eyes pleading. Clearly, he wanted something. Could it be…?

"Are you asking me to get you out of there?" he questioned. "The cage?" _Crib._ The word came to mind all of a sudden and he was immediately sure it was the cage-contraption's name. "The crib, I mean."

The baby made an indignant sound, as if accusing him of taking too long.

"But… I don't remember how to pick up a baby," he said. "I'll probably drop you."

The child was in no way interested in that argument or any notion of safety, really – he just wanted him (Daddy, unknowingly to Jellal) to pick him up. So, he pulled the big guns. He _whimpered._

"No, no, don't do that! Don't cry!" he said almost desperately. "Alright, alright, I'll do it! I'll pick you up. Just… give me a second."

The baby pouted up at him, waiting impatiently. Nervous, Jellal approached the side of the crib and reached hesitantly for the baby. Auto-pilot kicked in. His hands went to secure the child right under his armpits and it seemed to work on giving him a decent enough hold of him that he felt confident that he could lift the baby without dropping him. Afterwards, he just stood there, puzzled at the fact that he had managed to secure the child against his hip so easily.

"That was simpler than I thought it would be," he mumbled. It was like his body had moved partially on its own... as if remembering the mechanics but not the history.

On his arms, the baby seemed satisfied, resting his head against his chest and sucking on his thumb happily. He couldn't help but wonder who that baby was… and why he seemed just so comfortable with him. Did this baby know him so well? And why did it seem like all memories that were coming back to him concerned that little boy? Was he that important? He didn't know why but he felt really, really good just by holding him. It just felt… _right._

Just then, he heard some sort of sound from outside, as if a door had just opened and closed and then steps in the direction of that room. Before he could react, Erza stepped in, her eyes widening when she saw him there, and even more when she saw him _with_ the baby on his arms.

"J-Jellal…" she said, her voice utterly riddled with alarm.

"I'm sorry!" he apologized immediately. "I didn't mean to come in here but I heard whimpering and I came in to see what was going on and then he was here and he wanted me to pick him up and I just did it so he wouldn't cry and I…"

"No, you didn't do anything wrong!" she found herself saying immediately, unable to face him looking so guilty over something so… mild. "It's… it's perfectly fine. " She had been alarmed at first but after seeing how comfortably he was holding the baby, she'd been relieved, not to mention touched – it was as if his fatherly instinct had remained despite the misplaced memories. Sieg surely seemed unable to notice any difference in his father, clinging to him just like he would any other day. Maybe she had overreacted a little concerning the baby's introduction to this temporary version of Jellal…

"Who… who is this?" Jellal asked.

Erza bit down on her lip out of nervousness for a moment. "That's Sieg," she responded.

"Sieg…" he repeated, almost reverently. It was a name he recognized – a name from his childhood before the tower, which he had most certainly not expected to see on a random baby. But that wasn't a random baby, was it? He must be… "What is he doing here? Is he yours?" he asked.

She nodded, fearing his reaction. He didn't seem to have made the math by just hearing the name – that the name was his, therefore so was the baby. Yet, he surprised her by smiling rather than showing any awkwardness or hesitation.

"I thought so. His hair is just like yours," he pointed out.

And his eyes were just like his but _that_ he didn't seem to notice.

In his arms, the baby let out a little attention-seeking sound that had his mother walking over to him.

"What is it, baby?" she asked softly of her son, stroking her fingers gently over his silk-fine hair.

The baby looked at her with a pout and grabbed a fistful of her own hair while sucking avidly on his other hand – not just the thumb, the entire hand. Jellal smiled, amused at the baby's gesture.

"He really likes your hair too!" he said, sounding utterly delighted by that fact.

"Most babies do." _But in his case, it came straight from his daddy_ _,_ Erza thought to herself. "I think he may be hungry," she declared. "He usually eats around this time, so that's probably it. If we take him downstairs, I can get him something to eat. Do you want me to take him?"

Jellal thought of it for a moment. In theory, he should probably hand the baby over, seeing as he did belong to Erza and yet… he didn't want to let go! He felt possessive of the boy… and judging by the way he comfortably clutched to his shirt with the same little hand that was holding a fistful of Erza's hair, the little boy didn't seem to mind at all. "I… I think I can get him down there myself… I mean, unless you think it's safer if you do it," he mumbled, hoping she would just let him keep him a little longer.

Erza shook her head, smiling as she freed the strands of her hair from her son's hold (who, surprisingly, didn't protest much beyond an indignant noise). "I'll go ahead and you follow with him, then," she urged him.

He did just that, happy to carry the tiny redheaded boy after her. She led the way into the kitchen and, once inside, went to reach for a banana from the fruit basket on the counter. As she started cutting it into a bowl and smashing it into purée with a fork, the blue-haired man-who-thought-he-was-a-boy was happy to just sit on one of the chairs with the baby perched on his lap, watching Erza.

It was weird in a way – watching grownup Erza. She was the same and yet completely different… She was a _mom_. And as he glanced down to see what little Sieg was up to, he saw him watching his mother silently as well, while still attempting to swallow his hand whole – it was easy to see he absolutely adored her and witnessing that brought bittersweet feelings to his mind because once upon a time he had had a mom and he had adored her just as much as that baby adored Erza. Even though he wasn't one to wallow on the things he had lost, every once on a while he just couldn't help mourning it all: his lost life, the mother whose name he couldn't even recall, the male presence he had admired so much (His brother? Uncle? Father, even though such had never been stated?)… and whose name coincidently was shared by the baby on his lap. That made him wonder.

"Hey, Erza," he said. "The name 'Sieg'… where did it come from?"

Erza tensed a little, pausing her work for a moment. He was asking her a direct question and she most certainly could… _would_ not lie to him about it. Especially not when it concerned his son. He _should_ know.

"His dad," she replied.

The baby's dad… it must be the guy Erza lived with. The one he had gotten the clothes from. That made him feel… annoyed. "Oh… did he give it to him, then?"

Should she just up and say it cold turkey? She was starting to think that holding that sort of information from him might be… wrong. It was his child, after all – his life. As much as she might fear a bit of awkwardness, she felt like telling him was the right thing to do… or maybe just give him the grounds to figure it out himself. Yes, that might be easier for everyone. Not to mention less awkward for her.

"No," she truthfully replied. "I was the one who suggested it. But only because I knew it was a name that was important to him. It belonged to someone he had admired very much… someone he had lost."

Behind her back, Jellal frowned a little. So that guy had had a Sieg of his own? That sounded… bad. He just didn't like it at all – that _that_ guy had something in common with him like that. It was _weird_ \- copycat!

Now, it should be noted that he knew next to nothing about romantic relationships between people – concerning Erza, he had known from very early on that he wanted her on his life forever. He had known it was love, but not any different from the sort of love that he had for his lost mother, Millianna as an adopted little sister or Grandpa Rob as a surrogate grandfather. So, for that reason, it wasn't easy for him to understand just _why_ he appeared to detest that guy _so_ much... Sieg's dad - he wasn't one for baseless dislike and he'd never even met the guy so, for all he knew, he was just a nice guy that Erza liked. Still, for some reason, it just didn't rub him the right way that he was in Erza's life, so closely connected to her as the father of her child – in a way, it felt like that made that faceless man trump over him and pettily, maybe, he didn't like it one bit… which in turn made him feel kind of bad.

"Is he coming home soon?" he asked, his tone a bit tenser.

She sighed, picking up the plate of smashed bananas and bringing it over to the table, dragging a chair and placing it in front of Jellal so that she could face him and her son. "No."

The frown deepened. "What do you mean 'no'? Is he that far away? Doesn't he live here?"

"No, he does live here. And he's very close by, actually," she pointed out, using a small plastic spoon to feed the baby some of the smashed yellow fruit. The little boy didn't make a fuss about it until she actually tried to pull the spoon back, at which point he gripped the spoon's handle and tried to shove it further into his mouth in an attempt to chew on it to relieve his teething pains. "No, that's not good for you," Erza said to the baby. When she had to actually uncurl each of his little fingers from around the spoon in order not to hurt him while pulling the piece of cutlery back, the baby whined and shot her a look of betrayal mixed together with a pout. For a second, it seemed like he might actually start crying… that was, until Jellal took the boy by surprise by giving him two fingers to hold, one on each hand, so that he would both distract the boy and keep his hands occupied. Erza sighed in relief. "Thank you."

He didn't acknowledge her gratitude, though, as his mind was too focused on something else. "Why won't he come home to you and your baby?"

 _It's time,_ she told herself. The final nail on the coffin. "I never said he wasn't already home," she told him, putting the spoon back in the bowl of baby food.

… or maybe not quite the last nail after all. "Eh? There's someone else over here with us?" he said, sounding mildly disturbed. "When did he get here? Was it while I was in the shower?"

She frowned. That was being harder than she'd predicted. "No. He was here all along."

He raised an eyebrow. "All along?! Then how come he hasn't said 'hi' or anything? That's kind of rude," he commented. He had been right all along – that guy Erza lived with was a _jerk!_

She sighed. "Jellal, there are only three people in this house: you, me and the baby."

"But… but then…" There was a look of shock on his face and, for a moment, she was sure that he had reached the conclusion she wanted him to. Until… "Don't… don't tell me he's a ghost or something! Is that it? He's dead and haunting the house?!"

The redhead nearly groaned. "He is not dead and this house is most certainly not haunted. What I am telling you is that there are three people living in this house and that is me, Sieg and… well, and you."

His face was blank for a moment. "So I'm a lodger here, then?" he asked

She slapped her own face in disbelief. Was the person in front of her _not_ supposed to be a genius? Even as a child, she recalled him as being incredibly clever, so why in Mavis' name was it taking him so long to do the mat…? Oh, _wait._

For a moment there, she had actually underestimated the degree of naïveté Jellal had had all those years before. He had lived alone with his mother in the middle of nowhere, so it made sense that he wouldn't have a real notion concerning standard family units.

That meant… She paused her thoughts, shuddering. She _might_ have to tell him. In actual words. Could things ever get any more awkward than having to tell a guy with the temporary mental age of ten-years-old that he was the father of her child? It felt… _icky_ in so many ways. Part of her felt actually guilty, as if she was some sort of child molester!

But then… "Wait, but you said Sieg's dad lived here too, so if it's just you, me and the baby then where does he fit?" And finally, it sunk on him. He was old, he lived with Erza and supposedly so did Sieg's dad… that made four people… but if Erza was saying there was only three of them in that house, which must mean that two of those people were one and the same… which, by exclusion, meant… " _Ohhhhhhhh._ "

Then, his eyes went wide and he started to blush. Not because he knew the mechanics that making a baby involved but because he and Erza had a child and they lived together and somehow knew that was a big deal. Because he would be… _was_ a dad and Erza was a mom to the same baby and that was something nobody could ever take away from them – that thing… person they had in common. And that… well, that felt kind of weird because last he remembered, he had been ten and ten-year-olds and fatherhood weren't really something that was meant to be mixed together, but at the same time, it was a victory because it was him and Erza and someone that was theirs alone.

And so, little Sieg Scarlet was suddenly lifted up and turned around, finding himself being stared at intently by his father. He held the confused baby up in front of him, then looked at Erza, then back to the baby and then around, as if looking for something he could spot his reflection on.

"The eyes," Erza provided, noticing his behavior. "The color of his eyes is the same as yours. And I think he has your chin too… He may have your nose as well, but it is hard to tell at this point when he's still so little."

Now that she said it, it looked so painfully obvious that he felt stupid. Still, there were so many questions. Starting with… "But… but how?"

Erza looked stumped. "Eh?"

"I mean, how did we have a baby?" he questioned, sitting said baby back down on his lap.

She started fidgeting. "We… er… well, we… became closer when we… hmm, grew… and things progressed… naturally, I suppose… we got married.." After the fact, it must be noted...

"No, I get _that_. We became even better friends than before. The best of the best of the best of friends, so much that we live together. But how exactly did that lead to a baby?"

She felt her throat starting to close as if she was choking on something. Probably the humongous amount of embarrassment she was being forced to swallow at the moment.

"I mean, was he a reward or something?" Jellal went on obliviously. "Did someone give him to us as an award for being the bestest of friends? Just… where exactly did this baby come from? I always wondered about that sort of stuff… Grandpa Rob said he'd tell me when I got older but I _am_ older now and I guess I probably already know and just don't remember it for the moment but he's not around, so can you just let me know now because I really want to know?"

Oh god, he had not… he could have not… no. No. She was not going to explain to her husband – the father of her child – where babies came from. It was too… no. Just no.

"Erza?" he insisted

"Stork brought in inside a cabbage!" she responded before she could think. She got to her feet in a movement so fast Jellal almost missed it and she made a beeline for the door. "Need to go. There's something burning in the washing machine. The stove! I mean the stove!" She paused for a moment, considering that the stove was not located in that very room. "Wait, no I do mean the Washing Mashine. But not burning! I meant soaking! I must go – no time to speak!"

And she was gone. Just like that, retreating to the basement and looking around for an inexistent hole to bury herself in and never get out of. 'Stork brought him in a cabbage'... for the love of Mavis! Could she have said something even worse?!

But the eternity she had meant to spend hiding under the house became five minutes when she heard Jellal panickedly calling her name from upstairs, which had her rushing back up in a flash, thinking there might be something wrong with her baby.

There wasn't. Or rather, there was, but it was mostly banana-purée-soiled clothes and a bowl covered with baby drool.

"I'm so sorry," Jellal apologized profusely. He, too, had banana purée all over himself, from his face to his shirt. "I tried to finish giving him his food, but he got a hold of the bowl and food went flying everywhere and now he's just trying to eat the bowl itself and I don't really know what to do so… help?"

She looked at his desperate, dishelved self and then at the self-satisfied bowl-chewing and banana-covered little boy he was holding. Then, she took a breath and went to collect the child in question.

Fifteen minutes later, the two of them were back in the nursery, Jellal sitting on the rocking-chair wearing another change of clothes and watching it as Erza dressed a newly-cleaned baby as well.

"I'm really sorry again. It's just that he looked hungry and I thought it would be okay to feed him by myself… I should have guessed I'd be no good at it."

Erza shook her head. "No. I am the one to blame. I neglected to finish feeding him and you tried covering for me – if anything, I should be thanking you."

"For the mess I made?" he replied, sounding a little downcast. "Am I usually this clumsy with him or is it just the memory thing?"

"It should be the memory issues," she stated. "Rest assured that you are a wonderful father to Sieg, Jellal."

His face lit up a little. "Really?"

She nodded. "You are very hands-on with him and the two of you have a very close bond. When he's able to reach it, he loves poking your tattoo almost as much as he loves holding onto my hair."

Wow – if little Sieg was anything like him when it came to Erza's hair, that must mean a _lot_. He leaned back against the back of chair and sighed happily. "I can't believe this is what my life is like now… I must be walking on air all day long."

She didn't respond, busying herself with putting her son's flail-y arm through the sleeve of his shirt. It was impossible to say anything about Jellal's words. If she agreed, she would be lying, if she didn't, she would be opening the worst possible can of worms she could. There was just no addressing it. So, she simply didn't.

After she was done dressing up her son, she picked him up and brought him closer to her face so that she could press a kiss to his forehead. The baby cooed and grabbed his usual handful of hair as she turned around to face Jellal… only to find him looking at her with a strange expression on his face. It was hard to describe: happiness mixed with sadness mixed with longing. It didn't quite fit that version of Jellal, and for a moment, it had her wondering if he was back – her Jellal. "What is it?"

"Nothing," he mumbled, his voice still soft. "It's just… when you did that… when you kissed his forehead, I mean, I remembered that my mother used to do that to me… before. It think it felt… nice. My memories of that stuff are hazy now."

Her heart broke a little at that. Her mind travelled back to a conversation she and Jellal had had a few months before, on Valentine's Day. Back then, he had admitted that a lot of the cheerfulness and positivity he had shown in his childhood had been out of desperation for at least something good to happen in the small piece of hell they lived in. At the time, she had found it hard to believe – that the aura of hope he had always emanated was only a mask. But now that she got a glimpse of the sadness that had probably been underneath all along, she finally understood – hope wasn't a mask. It was both a weapon and a shield he had yielded to fight that sadness… and, back then, he had done it like nobody else could, to the point that he had became hope itself to others. But sadness was still there and it wasn't until that moment, years after that version of him had been torn by manipulation and guilt, in the midst of a tiny little glimpse into the past, that she could really see it… and that she found her chance to do the same for him. Be _his_ hope.

So, after walking over to the rocking chair, she placed the baby on his lap, which he took eagerly, securing the little boy by wrapping one arm around him. Then, much to his surprise, her hand reached to touch his forehead and pull the hair falling over it back. And finally, she leaned foreward and placed a kiss there, much like he seemed to be longing for, although not quite from her in specific. That was as much as she could do for him, though.

When she pulled back, she saw a reddish tint on his face as he looked at her with wide eyes due to surprise.

"There," she said softly. "Was that like you remembered it?"

To her surprise, he shook his head. "It was different… but it was good too."

She nodded and was surprised to find that she was glad for that – it only showed that a mother's love was not something that could be replaced, even by another type of intense love. "It's getting late," she declared. "I should go and heat something up for us to have for dinner."

"Oh, okay," he said. "I can look after Sieg while you do it. I promise I won't get him all dirty again. Mostly because there's no food around."

She smiled, not doubting it as her son also looked halfway to dreamland against the crook of his father arm, lulled by his soft motions back and forth on the rocking chair. "I'll be going, then," she declared, starting to turn around.

"Wait, Erza?" he called her back before she could go.

"Yes?" she responded, turning back.

He smiled. "Before you go… I don't know if I'll remember this… _now,_ after I remember everything else, so do me a favor and tell future me… real me, I guess, one thing."

"What?"

"Tell him he's found heaven, so he'd better enjoy being in it since I can't do it myself," Jellal told her.

Heaven – the words resounded in her mind. It sounded bittersweet when he said it. "He _is_ you, Jellal."

"Yeah, but you said I'm different, so I'm just covering my bases," he pointed out. "So… tell him, alright?"

She nodded. "I will." And, with that, she was gone.

It wasn't until she returned twenty minutes later to find father and son asleep on the rocking chair that she realized that had been their goodbye.

Because deep down in her mind, she knew that the Jellal that would wake up wouldn't be the same one that had fallen asleep. And although part of her was glad to have her own grownup Jellal back, she couldn't help but see that cheerful, innocent version of him fading back into the past.

 **To be continued...**


	4. Epilogue

**A/N:** **Finally, this fic's epilogue is finished. It just kept getting longer and longer. It's a curse, I tell you.**

 **Anyway, this ending was kind of... meh. I think I could have done better but I am just soooo exhausted and short on time. Overall, this was a strange, fun ride. I hope you liked it as much as I did!**

Jellal woke up to the feeling of being softly shaken.

His eyes opened slowly, blearily and he found himself surrounded by a familiar room – not his own but rather his son's instead. Erza was there, crouching in front of him, her hand still resting on his arm… the arm that was not wrapped around the slumbering baby on his chest, that was. All appeared to be well.

"Jellal? How do you feel?"

Jellal blinked, a little confused. "Fine." Why was she even asking how he felt? Was there a reason for her to think he might not be perfectly well? Sure, he had just faced a bunch of dark wizards a few… wait, was it hours? Minutes? Seconds? It was weird – a part of him felt like it had been seconds and the others felt like it had been much longer. Something was off… or rather, something was missing. Something to do with… "How did I get home?" he asked. Last he remembered, he had been miles away…

"You were hit by a spell," Erza told him. "Don't you remember what happened afterwards?"

He started to shake his head, but then… flashes. All sorts of memories that made no sense and in no particular order filled his mind. It was too much, too sudden… he couldn't even understand what they meant. "Oh god…" he mumbled.

"Jellal?" she called in alarm. "What is it? Does your head hurt? Are you feeling unwell after all? Should I take you to Porlyusica?"

He shook his head. "No… it's just… everything is a mess in my head. I think I remember. I just… can't make sense of it?"

She appeared relieved by that. "I will tell you what I know. Maybe that will help you putting the pieces together," she offered.

"How long has it been since…?"

"Several hours… around a third of the day."

"A third of a day?! But what about that Dark Guild? Did we get them? And the others… Crime Sorciére…"

"They are all fine and just left to go home," Erza explained. "They took care of the Dark Guild for you. The Council has them now."

"Then what happened to me? Was I unconscious? Did they carry me all the way here?"

Erza shook her head. "I will tell you the whole story in a moment. Let's just go to our room so the baby can sleep…"

She reached to pick up their son from his chest, carefully in order not to wake him, and then carried the little boy over to his crib, where she lay him gently, caressing his silk-soft cheek before stepping away and gesturing for Jellal to come with her.

They walked across the hall towards their own room, where Erza took a seat at the edge of their bed and patted the space next to her, urging him to do the same. He did not hesitate before obeying, sitting down next to her and waiting for her to start the story. She let out a sigh and then did just so.

"A few hours ago, Meredy came by to warn me that you were being brought home in a bit of a state…"

She started by telling him what the pink-haired girl had told her: the fight with the dark guild, him being hit by a spell, what the spell had done, what that had let to… And then, only when she was finished with that part of the story, she started telling him of their interactions afterwards (leaving out, of course, the most embarrassing details). He didn't say a word through it all, just nodding and looking thoughtful, as if sorting through the memories in his mind and putting them in their rightful place. Still, his face had no expression whatsoever. It concerned her somewhat because she couldn't get a read out of him: was the story bothering him? Amusing him? Touching him?

"… you took to Sieg immediately. You didn't even know he was yours and you just… adored him without restrain," she stated, a smile on her face. "It was beautiful to see… even more so after I told you about us and him. You thought you were in heaven… that this life you have now is heaven. In fact, you told me to tell you that after you were back to normal. That your life is heaven and you should enjoy it."

His eyes were on her, watching the jubilant smile on her face as she said that. However, that didn't make him equally delighted as it usually did – it made him feel a little… down… sad, even. "I see…" he said.

Of course, knowing him well, Erza was quick to catch wind of his mood. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he replied, looking away.

Her face hardened. "Don't lie to me, Jellal. I will not have you close up on me like that. Tell me what you're thinking."

He let out a breath. "Don't mind me, I'm just being…" He paused with a sigh, shaking his head. "The way you were smiling as you told me those things… it made me wonder if you didn't prefer him."

"Him? You mean you."

"Yes… and no. I mean that other me. The… the untainted one," he spoke.

Her face immediately shifted into a frown. "Don't speak like that – you are not tainted. I never thought of you that way. And it's not a matter of preference between versions of you. It's a matter of loving you and wanting you to be as happy as you possibly can. I know that you are happy living with me and Sieg and everything else you have now, but you are never… you are never _that_ carefree. And you enjoying the life you have with so little restrain… it made me very happy on your behalf."

He sighed. "But that wasn't really my life, was it?" he pointed out. "My life is what I am and my sins are part of me. And you didn't tell me about what I did, did you? The slaves I kept in the tower, killing Simon, hurting you…" There was no accusation in his voice. Only sadness – regret.

"Could you really expect me to burden a child with sins he hadn't yet committed?" Or never really would, at least willingly, commit, as far as she was concerned. "Because that was what you were for those past few hours, Jellal – a child who wouldn't harm a fly. And knowing that I hardly think you deserve the guilt you deal with on a daily basis now, would you actually expect me to place that burden on a child?"

He pursed his lips together. He could understand her logic. He could even see himself applying it all the same if it hadn't been him but instead one of his comrades being hit by that spell – his comrades who, like him, had plenty of their pasts to regret. And yet… yet when applied to him it didn't feel right – his guilt just ran too deep for that to be possible. "You are always too kind to me, Erza."

"I am not," she replied easily. "You are just too hard on yourself." Now even more than usual. As she looked sideways at him, she could see that spell had done far more than just sending him 'back' for a few hours: it had rubbed raw those wounds in his heart that had taken her so long to heal. She wondered if those few nostalgic hours that she had spent with a long-lost version of him had been worth this pain for him… she thought not. It made her feel a little guilty that she had enjoyed that 'meeting' with young, joyful Jellal despite it… but since that wasn't something that could be undone, she set out to fix him despite it. The guilt was always there, as much as she despised it, but she had been able to help him through it in the past and she was set on doing it again.

Unaware of her plans, Jellal looked confused as she moved to sit farther away from him on the bed, wondering if he had upset her that much that she would want distance. He was proven wrong, however, when she stretched herself towards him and grabbed his shoulder, starting to tug it downwards in an angle that was clearly meant for him to rest his head on her lap. He did it a bit stiffly at first, her comfort only increasing his guilt at first as a more masochistic part of him wanted to simmer in the pain for as long as possible, but then, once he lay there with his head on her legs as her fingers combed gently through his hair, he started feeling himself surrendering to her nurturing and relaxing.

For a long time, she didn't speak. She just sat there stroking his hair silently, feeling him loosen up as his mind cleared little by little. It was no miracle cure for his current state of mind, but as long as he was a little more relaxed, he would be more open to letting her lift up his mood. So, it wasn't until about ten minutes of silence that she finally spoke. "Please don't feel guilty. You didn't do anything today that should make you feel so bad," she said softly.

He sighed. "I know, but… he… me – other me… he might not really know everything about my life but he did have a point: what we have together… our home, Sieg, the guild… it _is_ heaven. And sometimes…" he paused, sighing, "… sometimes when I compare this to what someone who committed the sins I have deserves, it becomes a little hard to swallow."

"It shouldn't. Your good deeds outnumber your sins by a lot."

"One thing doesn't invalidate the other," he stated. If it did, Simon would be alive… his old friends wouldn't hate him.

Erza sighed. "I am proud of the person you grew up to be. I think little you would have been as well if I had told him and given him enough time to adjust. Your biggest sins concern things you could not control. And as for the things you can control: you are a good husband, a good father, a good team-mate, a good friend, a good mage who stops at nothing to help people… if that doesn't make a good person, I don't know what does. And even more than that, you have surrounded yourself with one of the most infamous dark guilds of all time when you recruited Oracion Seis, you deemed them redeemed of their many, _many_ misdeeds, you call them your comrades, you hold them in great esteem now and yet you can't do the same for yourself."

It wasn't fair when she put things like that. He knew she was wrong… or rather, his mind was hard-wired not to accept her logic as 'right'. But if someone asked him to pinpoint a specific reason as to why, he wouldn't be able to. "Erza…"

"Don't," she told him. "I know this will always be something we won't agree on. I have made my peace with agreeing to disagree, even if I don't like it very much. Just tell me if you will be alright. About today, I mean. That's all that matters."

He sighed, closing his eyes, and for a moment she feared receiving an uncertain answer. What came, however, was different. Very different. "When I am with you, I become a very selfish person. No matter how much part of me feels like I don't have a right to be alright, I know I will be as long as I have you. And now Sieg too. "

She sighed, both relieved and annoyed, because she hardly thought that wanting to be happy was a selfish wish. But it was Jellal just being himself and that was certainly better than a flat 'no', so she would take that as a positive answer and change the subject. Sighing, she reached to stroke the tips of her fingers along his forehead in a caress, leading him to open his eyes. "You were amazing with him today, you know?"

"Who?"

"Sieg," she replied. "The way you acted towards him when you didn't remember or even know that he was yours… You were a dad even when you didn't remember becoming one, which serves to show just how deep your connection runs."

His lips curled a little at that. It wasn't quite a smile but it revealed that his mood was slowly, but surely, improving. "Would you believe me if I said that I was silently set on utterly despising his father before you told me he was mine?" he confessed.

She smiled. "Might it be that jealousy was a factor?"

"Maybe," he admitted. "Like I said, I am a very selfish man when it comes to you."

Again, she didn't respond to that. "So, I take it my assistance has helped you in sorting through your memories, then."

"Yes… things are starting to make more sense in my head. Before, it was just disjointed pieces of a puzzle, but now I can see the image they are starting to form together. I…" he paused, his mind wandering through some of the more embarrassing memories from the past few hours. His face felt hot and by the way Erza seemed amused, he guessed he was blushing. A lot. "I feel like I owe you an apology for a number of things. Starting with… _that_ question…" By which he meant the one concerning the… origins of their son.

At that, Erza stopped looking amused and became embarrassed as well, covering her face with her hands (which had him frowning once they were removed from his head). _Stork brought him in a cabbage,_ she recalled saying. "Oh, god, I can't believe I responded something like that."

"It… it was very creative, really," he said diplomatically. "We might want to think of something a little less… implausible to say when it's our son's turn to ask, but… well, it served its purpose, really." A purpose, he had to admit, that had been shutting him up. But at least, it wasn't as bad as 'shut up or you'll break the entire space-time continuum' as had been Cobra's excuse.

"Please, let's just forget those words ever came out of my mouth," she begged. " _Please."_

"Done. But… concerning the rest… like the… unwarranted touching and the embarrassing comments… not just from today – I suppose from all those years ago too…" God, he had scarcely remembered just how much of socially-clueless bumpkin he used to be all those years before – in hindsight, he wondered why Erza had even been able to stand him in the first place. "I am really, really sorry…"

"Don't apologize for that," she told him, blushing herself. "It… it was a little awkward but it was just part of your charm, to be honest. And as for today, we are married, so it hardly matters."

He knew that, but somehow it hadn't felt that way while he was all... kiddy. And judging by the way she had blushed so often in his memory, she had probably felt the same. But if she was willing to let that go, who was he to protest?

He closed his eyes as he felt her hands returning to this scalp, drawing relaxing little invisible lines on it with the tips of her fingers. He felt like he could fall asleep again right then and there, dinner be damned. It had been such a strange, overwhelming day… he really didn't think he could take much more of it.

"I missed having you home," Erza said, her smile sounding in her voice. "I'm glad you made it back alright." Confused, but in one piece, at least.

"Me too," he replied in a low tone. "I missed being home."

And as he said the word home, a very different one echoed in his mind. Because his younger self might have been a handsy, altogether-embarrassing little kid, but he'd had his own moments of wisdom: his home – his life as it was now – was heaven alright. And even if it cost him sometimes, he would gladly go on being selfish in order to keep it.

 **The End**


End file.
